Before she became a world-renowned advocate for girls’ education, before she became a victim of the Taliban’s brutality, before she was nominated for international accolades, Malala Yousafzai was this: a scared little girl. The title of Malala’s first entry in a diary she kept for the BBC in 2009 was ‘I am afraid’.
The piece about the media's hand in the construction of Malala the icon, and how she came to fall of the pedestal in the eyes of many Pakistanis for Himal Southasia can be found here.